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[eDepository] ManyBooks

PVish

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Two weeks ago, I received this email (I've removed the sender's name):
My name’s L--- C------- and I am the editor for ManyBooks.net. I hope you don’t mind me reaching out, but I wanted to say that I saw your book featured in the Book Basset newsletter and I think it would be well received by our readers.

We were wondering if you’d like to be featured in our newsletter? We send out our daily newsletter to over 130,000 subscribers, and if you’re able to book something shortly, we could offer you a feature for just $19 (instead of the usual $25).

If you’re interested, please fill out our discount submission form: http://manybooks.net/get-featured?discount=welcome

For more information visit: http://manybooks.net/promote

If you do have any questions about ManyBooks or being featured in our newsletter, please don’t hesitate to ask. I look forward to hearing from you.

I have no idea which of my self-pubbed books she means. I have no idea how one might have been featured in a newsletter I'd never heard of before. Since the sender had said "If you do have any questions. . ." I immediately emailed back and asked, "To which of my books are you referring, and why do you think your readers would be interested?" Never heard back from her.

I checked the web site, and noticed they featured books by some famous—although deceased—authors. Many of their books seem to be in the public domain, like these classics or these adventure books. The books that authors pay to have promoted are deep within the website where the newsletters are archived—and they only seem to promote ebooks that are free or deeply discounted.

I fail to see how this site's promotional services could benefit authors.
 

Tsu Dho Nimh

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It's a good place to get epubs of public domain books (I've downloaded hundreds!) ... the rest I have sampled chapters from are self-published books of variable quality, mostly below average.

So, while not a classic ripoff publisher, the "feature" is unlikely to help you.
 

Chris P

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Interesting. I've used ManyBooks.net for years to download public domain classics or take a chance on the occasional creative commons title. I really like how you can convert to epub, mobi, etc. directly on the site and the results seem to be formatted better than getting the same titles from Gutenberg (which is the source of most of their public domain titles). It's only been recently that I've seen them offer newer books by free or discounted promotions a la Book Bub or Early Bird Books.

The promoted titles come up right away on the full site, but are harder to find on the mobile site. On the left of the mobile site is a heading "eBook Deals" where the promoted titles are. I don't subscribe to their newsletter, so I don't know how effective it would be.

As a reader, I go to ManyBooks to find classics rather than new titles. As a writer, I would put my promotion dollars elsewhere for that reason. I'm willing to be shown wrong, however.